


Compressions

by ladygray99



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: CPR, Community: avengerkink, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-24
Updated: 2012-06-24
Packaged: 2017-11-08 11:13:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/442596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladygray99/pseuds/ladygray99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce shouldn't be able to die.  And yet his heart stops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compressions

**Author's Note:**

> My first Avengers story. Written for this prompt. http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/6565.html?thread=12200357#t12200357

They were all pretty sure Bruce couldn't die. Bruce was immortal. Or at least the Other Guy was. But the Other Guy had taken a hard hit to the chest and now Bruce wasn't waking up. In fact they couldn't find a pulse at all.

"Crap!" Tony shouted and flipped up his mask. "Someone get an ambulance here. Now!" He was aware of Thor flying off in one direction and Steve sprinting in another.

He rolled Bruce onto his back and knocked on his collar bone. "Wake up! Come on!" There was nothing and Tony stripped off his gloves. It had been a few years since he went to a Stark Industries first aid seminar but he didn't think the procedures had changed that much. 

He tilted Bruce's head back, pinched his nose, locked their mouths together and gave two deep breaths watching as Bruce's chest rose with each. 

Without doing another check for a pulse Tony locked his arms and gave thirty hard, quick, compressions. He heard Bruce's ribs crack but tried to avoid thinking about it. Ribs can heal. Death is death.

He tilted Bruce's head back again, two breaths, thirty compressions. He just needed to keep the air going to Bruce's brain, keep the blood pressure up. 

He wasn't sure how many rounds he'd done, seven or eight, when he heard a soft thump and from the corner of his eye saw Thor land, a tariffed looking medic, in Army BDUs, tucked under his arm. 

The medic rushed over. "Can you tell me what happened?" Tony was mid compressions.

"He took a hit to the chest."

The medic opened his case. It was a small case but the medic seemed to have recovered from the flight and pulled out some tubs and a mask attached to a large squeeze bag.

"Hold for a second." Tony stopped the compressions while the medic did a quick check of Bruce before sliding a tube down his throat and attaching the mask. "Start compressions again. You were doing fine. You." He pointed at Thor. "Get over here and squeeze this. A nice easy rhythm just like he was breathing."

Tony felt small with Thor looming over them and Bruce seemed tiny.

"Does your friend have any allergies."

"Um... I don't think so."

"Dr. Banner has a mild allergy to dark chocolate," Jarvis provided.

"Really? Suck. Dark Chocolate." Tony forwarded to the medic.

"Great." The medic stuck a needle in Bruce's arm. Tony felt his eyes go wide fully expecting the Other Guy to put in an instant appearance. When he didn't Tony felt an even greater dread sink in.

The medic pushed Tony aside and pressed a stethoscope to Bruce's chest. Bruce gave a sudden twitch. "Can that suit of yours deliver an electric shock?"

"Um... Yeah." Tony grabbed his gloves. 

"He's in ventricular fibrillation right now. We're going to try to normalize his rhythm."

Tony held up his hands. "Where do they go?"

The medic grabbed Tony's hands. He put one on Bruce's right pec and the other low on his left ribs. "Press down a bit and let's start with 200 volts." The medic waved Thor back.

"Jarvis, charge and go." Bruce's body twitched under Tony's hands. Tony started to feel sick. The medic leaned in and listened while Thor started squeezing the air bag again.

"Try again at 400."

Tony positioned his hands and Bruce twitched again. Behind him a an engine he'd been dimly aware of rolled up and stopped. Suddenly he and Thor were being pushed away as EMTs swarmed around Bruce. It what felt like seconds Bruce was on a backboard and slid into the back of an ambulance. 

Thor hopped into a second truck being driven by Steve that quickly rushed after the ambulance. 

Tony stood in the rubble, his hands tingling from the electric shocks. He checked the time. It had been eight minutes. Eight minutes from the time he realized Bruce wasn't breathing. Maybe ten minutes since he'd reverted from the other guy. Tony tried to calculate odds of brain damage but his own brain was refusing to work. Instead the sound of cracking ribs echoed in is ears.

"Jarvis. Work out where they're taking him and get the best specialists there."

"Of course, sir."

Tony looked down at his feet. There were a pair of smashed glasses. He knew they couldn't be Bruce's but Bruce would want his when he woke up. And Tony believed he would wake up.

~

Tony looked at x-ray of Bruce's chest. All the ribs were cracked. Tony knew that was his fault. What wasn't his fault was bit of stuff lodged in Bruce's body somehow wedged between his spine and lungs.

"I guess we have something in common now." Bruce mumbled from his bed. He was heavily drugged. As far as anyone could work out a bit of something had actually gotten through the Other Guy's skin. He'd instantly healed around it but when he changed back into Bruce it was still in his body. It managed to briefly press against the nerves controlling Bruce's heart. 

"Well, lucky for you, you will not be needing an arc reactor installed in your chest. I have some of the best doctors on the planet on their way here. You're going to be fine."

Bruce reached out and took Tony's hand. "I know I'm really drugged up right now but I was thinking, now that I know I can die, maybe I should try to live a little."

"I think that's a really good idea."

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt requested CPR with extra special 'you win the Internet' points for proper protocol. Last I check it was 2 breaths with 30 compressions and at least 100 compression per minute was advised. Also, defibrillation doesn't really work if a heart is completely stopped.


End file.
